Stoker



Dec. 22,1925- A. D. BAKER STOKER Filed July 18, 1924 2 Shets-Shet 1 Dec. 22 1925' A. D. BAKER STOKER Filed July 18, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @MQ. 29M

Patented 22, 1925.

"UNITED STATES HEB D. BAKER, O1 BWANTON, OHIO.

STORED.

Application filed July 18 1924. Serial 110. 726,689.

To all whom it may concern Be'it known that I, ABNER 'D. BAKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Swanton, in the county Fulton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Stoker, which invention is fully setforth the following specification.

This invention relates'to automatic stokers or coal feeding devices, and has for its object the provision of a simple, eflicient, novel and positive feeding device of this character. The invention is particularly intended for use in connection with the automatic stoker control disclosed in my application Ser. #561,950.

The invention is fully described in the following s ecification, and a preferred embodiment t ereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is an elevation of an apparatus embodying the invention with parts broken away. Flg. 2 is a fragmentary section on the line 22 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section on the line 4-4: in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the casing of a fire box to which coal is to be fed, and 2 a coal sterage chamber or hopper disposed at the outer side of said casing. The bottom of said hopper is restricted in size or gradually narrowed and provided with a plurality of dischar e openings 3 toward which the coal feed isirected by respective inclines i. A. shaft 5 is disposed lengthwise of the hopper 2 in a feed tron h 6 beneath the openings-4, and carries a p urality of worms 7 which act, in the present instance, to feed the coal in the trough toward the two bottom discharge openings 8, each of which opens into a suojacent feed pocket 9.

The bottom portion of the feed pocket 9 extends rearwardly from the outer side wall of said pocket and forms a guideway for a plunger 10 that is mounted for horizontal reciprocatory movements therein. The plunger 10 extends at its outer end through a side opening inthe outer side wall of the feed pocket for reci rocatory movements therethrou h and registers at its inner end with a disc arge o ening 11 in the adjacent casin wall of the Ere box 1, so that the fuel may e forced from the bottom of the pocket 9 through-said o enin and into the fire box at each forwar stro e of the plunger 10.

The worm shaft 5 is provided at one end outside the hopper 2- with a ratchet wheel 12, the teeth of which are engaged by a pawl 13 that is carried by a rocker arm 14 mounted freely on the shaft 5 at the outer slde of the ratchet wheel. The rocker arm 14 1s connected by a rod 15 to the crank 16 of the associated engine, so that at each revolution of the crank the pawl 13 is given a forward and backward stroke and is caused,

during its forward stroke, to engage one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel and impart a predetermined feeding movement thereto, as well understood in the art- .A rocker-shaft 17 is journaled in brackets 18 at the rear of the trough 6 in parallel relation to the feed shaft 5 and has a rockerarm 19 projecting downward therefrom for each plunger 10 with its lower end engaging within an opening 20 in the outer end portion of the plunger. The shaft 17 at the end thereof, adjacent to the ratchet wheel 12, is provided with a short rocker-arm 21 carrying an adjustin screw 22 in enga ement with the outer side of a dog 23. This dog 23 is pivoted in upright position, in the present instance, to a stationary bracket 24 and rides at its free end against the toothe peripheral surfaces of the ratchet wheel 12, so that it is forced out by each tooth which passes it and is then permitted to uickly enter the notch in the wheel formed y the next tooth. A rod 25 secured to a rocker arm 19 pivotally projects forwardly therefrom and is engaged at its outer end by the ends of two coiled contractile springs 26, which are connected at their other ends to and below the said rod. The springs 26 till exert a continual inward pressure against the rod 25 and impart a quick inward movement to the rocker-arms 19 and connected plungers 10 when the dog 23 passes from enga ement with the outer end of a ratchet whee tooth. The quick movement, which is thus imparted to the plungers 10, causes a charge of coal which is disposed in ad Vance of each plunger, to be ejected into the fire box 1 throu h the discharge opening 11. It is thus evi cut that the feed means for the coal feeding worm shaft 5 is utilized to impart intermittent feeding movements to the plungers 10 so that a charge of coal is forced into the fire box h each plunger 10 after each retractile stro e of the pawl 13. It is found in practice that this provides a very positive and easily regulable automatic feed for coal to the fire box and can be easily attached to any feed device having a rotary part.

I WlSll it understood that my inventlon is not limited to any specific construction, ar-

rangement or form of the arts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and 7 a feed hopper having a pocket with a discharge opening therein, a feed worm in the hopper above said pocket, a ratchet wheel rotatable with the feed worm, means for intermittently driving said ratchet wheel, a

1 plunger operable to discharge fuel from said pocket throughthe discharge opening therein, positive means including an element associated with the periphery of said ratchet wheel for moving said plunger in one direction, and means for automatically actuating said plunger in the opposite direction.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a fuel feed passage having a discharge opening in a side of its bottom portion, a plunger movable transversely through the passage to discharge fuel from said opening, a worm for feeding fuel to said passage, means including a ratchet wheel for intermittently rotating the worm, a dog riding against the teeth of the ratchet wheel, rocker means engaging said dog and plunger for communicating a retracting movement from the dog to the plun er when the dog is forced outward by the movement of an engaging ratchet wheel tooth, and yielding means acting on said rocker means to impart fuel discharging movement to the plunger when the dog is permitted to move inward after passing from engagement with the outer end of a tooth. i

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name to this specification.

ABNER D. BAKER. 

